Night

Oprah's pick for book of the month is Elie Wiesel's "Night," (which is not likely to be outed as untrue, unlike Frey's "A Million Little Pieces.")

As with Frey's book, this was presented as a page turner, something that everyone needed to read, something so shocking it would hold your attention to the end, something that would change your life.

I have always felt that if there is such a thing as reincarnation, then I am a recycled concentration camp occupant. The problem is that I don't know if I would have been a former prisoner, or guard. I have always fantasized that I must have been a prisoner ('cause I'm a good guy and can't imagine torturing people, even in a former life), but there is a part of me which has to accept that it might have been otherwise. But I have had a fascination for the Holocaust and stories of the Holocaust for as long as I can remember.

I suspect that the "shock" value of this book is more for people who perhaps have not thought or read much about the Holocaust. To read with brutal honesty what happened to human beings -- men, women and children -- in our world, in our lifetime (well, my lifetime anyway) is gut-wrenching.

"Night" tells in painful detail the story of Wiesel's life as an adolescent in a small village in Romania, living with his family, studying his religion and hearing tales of the approaching Nazi troops. We watch the family torn apart, shoved into boxcars and arriving at Auschwitz, where he sees his mother and sister for the last time, not knowing it was the last time.

The story follows the struggle of the young man and his father to stay alive, in Auschwitz, Buna, Buchenwald and Gleiwitz. It recounts the father's ultimate loss of his life, literally days before the camps were liberated. The book also tells of Wiesel's survivor guilt, being the only one in his family to have come out alive.

This book started Elie Wiesel's lifelong project to bear witness for those who died, stating that "to remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all" (a message which rings as true today as it did then). His passion for bearing witness earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.

"Night" is, indeed, a gripping story, and mirrors so many other similar horror stories.

Let us remember, let us remember the heroes of Warsaw, the martyrs of Treblinka, the children of Auschwitz. They fought alone, they suffered alone, they lived alone, but they did not die alone, for something in all of us died with them.

Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff

This book was introduced to me by someone who told me it was "the funniest book I've ever read."

As I started the book, the whole concept was hysterical. Jesus (called Joshua or Josh) in his adolescence, hanging with his best friend "Levi, who is called Biff" and trying to find meaning in his life.

There are very funny things which happen, but as the book progressed, it became not quite so funny and more...something else. I'm not sure how to express it. For all the possible cries of "blasphemy," Joshua becomes very human, very endearing, and it ends up being a more or less believable account of what might possibly have happened, especially toward the end of Joshua's life.

The actual story line takes Joshua and Biff to visit the three kings who visited the infant in the stable in Bethlehem. It becomes at the same time an adventure story and a spiritual study.

In the end, it was definitely not "the funniest book I ever read," but it was an entertaining read.

Never Have Your Dog Stuffed

Alan Alda is one of the good guys. He's always likeable when you see him perform (at least I've never seen him play the bad guy, which does not, I realize, mean that he has not done so). He always seems like the next door neighbor you'd like to hang out over the back fence and chat with.

It's delightful to read this book and discover that it reads the same way we've all known Alda from his performances and his guest show appearances.

This is not your typical Hollywood biography, written in chronological order and filled with tidbits about other celebrities. This is a very personal story which reads like memories that pop into his head and are written down as they come. The book grips you from it's opening sentence, "My mother didn't try to stab my father until I was six," and goes on to detail his extraordinary life growing up backstage in a bawdy vaudeville house.

Alda had a life-changing moment when he nearly died on a trip to Chile and it started the wheels turning to produce this delightful read, which he wrote without a ghost writer. Of all the books I read this year, I think I enjoyed this book the most.

Pope Joan

I had heard about this book by Donna Cross before, but it wasn't until I was in Minneapolis with three friends, browsing through a book store, that they began raving about this story and I was intrigued, so bought the book.

It is a gripping story, and presents an intriguing question -- was there ever a woman in the Catholic church who was able to fool everyone and rise to the position of Pope?

The story is believable and held my interest, but even more fascinating was doing research on the "legend." Author Cross has done extensive research on the story, and on what she says is the attempt by the Catholic church to cover the whole thing up.

In doing my own internet research, I could see the scorn with which the church holds the theory that a woman could ever be pope. Frankly, I found Cross's research more compelling.

My strong recommendation, however, is wait to do your own research after finishing the book. I did it about 2/3 of the way into the book, to find out how it all ended, and it definitely ruined my enjoyment of the ending of the book.

Highly recommended book.

A Million Little Pieces

I only read 13 books (so far) in 2005, so I thought I would attempt to review them--and see if I can remember all the way back to January, when I read the first one ("The Magician's Assistant"). I'm going to start with the last one and work my way backwards.


A Million Little Pieces by James Frey is a book I probably would never have bought or even thought of reading if Oprah hadn't raved and raved and raved about it. How can you not be intrigued by a book that everyone in the audience agreed kept them awake all night reading until they finished.

It didn't do that for me, but it did hold my interest. If you want to get a hard-hitting, ugly, brutal feel for what it's like to be addicted and to recover from drugs and alcohol, this is the book for you.

If you love someone who is trying to recover from drugs and alcohol, this is the book for you, because it will give you a much greater appreciation for what the road back is like and why when you've made it through the first days of coming off the drugs, the work is just beginning.

The positive thing about this book is that James Frey wrote it, so we know that he was successful. If it were written as a biography instead of an autobiography, I think I would have been far more riveted to find out whether or not the man had achieved his objectives.

There are shocking revelations, amazing characters, triumphant and very sad stories in this book. All are made more compelling because they really existed. They really succeeded, or not, as Frey presents them (though all identities are hidden, of course).

I have long said that Alcoholics Anonymous is our family "club," rather than the Kiwanis or Elks club or anything else, since I come from a long line of alcoholics. Fortunately, I don't think there were any hard core drug users that I knew (or know) well, though undoubtedly there are some. So I could relate to the book on a familial level.

In this day when methamphetamine addicts are born every day and that drug is ruining families and lives, I think this is an important book for everyone to read.

1/6/06 post script: even if the book is a work of mostly fiction (as is now alleged), it's still a good book to read to get a sense of what drug addiction and recovery is like.